This weekend was spent in ruins. Literally. Like the Anasazi kind (remember those guys? I ‘learned‘ about them in Elementary school. I bet you ‘learned‘ about them too). Anyways, I didn’t remember anything I ‘learned’ about them either, so here’s what these dudes were all about. Jake & I hiked into Cedar Mesa with the hopes of spotting a few of the buildings they left behind. A nasty storm kept following us, so we had to add a little extra hike down the primitive road to get to the actual trails (and by ‘a little extra’ I mean 10 miles). We figured a few extra miles would be better than a few extra days waiting for the dirt to dry in case it got too slippery for the RedRammer (he’s tough, but those roads are serious).
After we were all explored out, we headed towards a town called ‘Mexican Hat’. We drove down ‘Moki Dugway’ to get off the mesa. I think they call it a ‘dugway’ because there is very little that is ‘roadlike’ about it. It’s mostly just a flat dirt trail that whips you down the mesa. It was pretty sweet, and you could see a bunch of nice things from near the top.
The town named ‘Mexican Hat’ was kind of a dud (no beer, no tourist traps, no anything really), but we still like it because it’s named ‘Mexican Hat’. So we headed towards ‘Bluff’, which we noted looked cool when we had driven through with Dyna en route to where we were camping for the weekend. *Side Note: we don’t get to stop much while driving in Dyna- she’s too big to park in a lot of places* Anyways, we stopped in Bluff, which turned out to be a Mormon Settler town. A Mormon Settler town with delicious cookies and root beer. And a nice man named Casey who told us all about everything that is ‘Bluff Fort’.
After a long Saturday spent in ruins and a Mormon Settler town, we planned to have ‘Lazy Sunday’ then next day. Partly because RedRammer’s sun roof decided to be ‘ruined’ (aka, open, but NOT close) and needed Jake to fix it, partly because it was supposed to be stormy (again), and partly because we both love Lazy Sunday. We made it until about noon, then decided to go see some more ruins, this time, at Mesa Verde. It was pretty awesome, except that we had to take guided tours of these ruins. But Mesa Verde’s ruins were pretty intense, so it was still all good. And watching people who are scared of heights climb 35ft ladders is also entertaining. And Jake saved us from hitting a bunch of deer & from getting rear-ended at the same time, so it was a good day (there are a LOT of deer with death wishes living between Blanding and Monticello, in case you ever decide to drive there).
The Monticello Fair also happened while we were in town. This fair caused us ‘ruin’ of a different sort… the gastrointestical sort. While watching real life cowboys (I never get sick of them!) rope cattle, we partook in a ‘Navajo Taco‘, ‘Shish-ka-dog’, and ‘Curly Taters’. Tasted awesome. Ruined stomachs. We should have been smart like the little local girl sitting behind us an brought our own pot of rice and beans…
Not all the ruins we saw were ‘awesome.’ Some of the ruins were in Dyna. Yeah, we have rough days too. And Monday was the ‘rough’ kind of ‘good’ day. As in everything we touched, we ruined. Monday was a travel day, so we had planned to head up to Thompson Springs, UT after Jake was done working. Dyna had other plans. Like busting (POP!) another pipe under the sink when we pulled in her front slide. And sounding a loud alarm for a good hour before we could figure out our lube pump kit blew a fuse. And then the key for the fuel tank broke off. In the keyhole. Monday was also the first time I had to slam on Dyna’s brakes (they work). Jake and most of Dyna’s contents were thrown about vigorously.
The good news is I was finally able to give Dyna a bath! (Most parks in the West restrict rig bathing). So maybe she’ll stop being so moody. I get moody when I feel too grimy too. And also, the place we’re staying is pretty awesome. It’s a ghost town that is 45minutes away from the nearest form of civilization with some of the friendliest RV park owners we’ve met. And we’re the only ones staying here as of now, so “WE OWN THE PARK!!” And there are a crap-ton of bunnies and JackRabbits running around (mom, you would love this place!!).